4 fake maoist arrested

Koraput: Narayanpatna Police on Monday arrested four fake Maoists who were allegedly involved in setting fire to construction equipment of a local contractor. They are Basanta Hantal of Kotiya village, Purno Tadingi and Rajiv Tadingi of Upar Gumandi village – all in Koraput district – and S Murali Krishna, a contractor of Gajapati district.

Suspected Maoists had set fire to a JCB machine and other road construction equipment near Podapadar village under Narayanpatna police limits on February 27 night. The equipment were being used to construct a Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) road from Mankidi Chowk to Talagumandi. However, the Maoists did not claim responsibility for the incident.

Soon after the incident, a Bandhugaon-based contractor, Rabi Nayak lodged an FIR in Naryanpatna police station and during investigation, police nabbed four persons.

While speaking to the mdia, SDPO Hemant Padhi said there was no involvement of Maoists in the incident. It was a fall out of business rivalry between two contractors, he added.

Nayak of Bandhugaon was constructing the PMGSY road after a gap of eight years. The work was stopped in 2009 after the contractor concerned, SN Chawla, was murdered.

Both Krishna and Nayak had applied for the contract of the PMGSY road. The tender was awarded to Nayak and Krishna decided to take revenge by setting his construction camp on fire. He hired three criminals from Pottangi for the job and also sent a threat letter to Nayak in the name of Koraput-Srikakulam Divisional committee. All the four arrested persons were produced in court which remanded them in judicial custody.